The 1,375 athletes, from 173 countries will be competing July 6-10 in Lille, France for the 7th World Youth Championships. RBR is here to get a feel of the first day, and then we will keep up to date with IAAF coverage! The opening ceremony is tonight!

VLASIC AND RUDISHA WILL RETURN TO
MONACO

MONACO (MON): High Jumper Blanka Vlasic and 800m
runner David Rudisha will compete in Monaco on July 22nd for the 10th
stage of the Samsung Diamond League. Both have been named World Athletes of the
Year for 2010 during the World Athletics Gala last November right in Monaco. Current
world season leader in 2011 thanks to his 1:43.46 win in Nancy,
Rudisha will come to Monaco
with the intention of staying unbeaten and improving his 2011 best. Informs
Diamond League website.

TAMGHO VS. IDOWU

BIRMINGHAM (GBR): World Indoor champion Teddy Tamgho has confirmed he
will line up against Phillips Idowu in the triple jump at the Aviva Birmingham
Grand Prix, enhancing the event’s status as one of the strongest fields in
world athletics this year. Tamgho will renew his rivalry with the reigning
World and European champion Phillips Idowu, only 10 days after the Parisian’s
victory in the Lausanne
leg of the Samsung Diamond League. Organizers are informing in a release. In
the highlighted 100 m
heats and final will be staged. Asafa Powell will face training group rivals
Michael Frater and Nesta Carter, US is represented by Mike Rodgers and Trell
Kimmons, sub 10 this year for Keston Bledman of Trinidad, latest sub 10 Jaisuma
Saidy Ndure of Norway and home strong group of sprinters.

TOP MENÂ´S 400 M AND WOMEN 100 M FIELDS

PARIS (FRA): FridayÂ´s AREVA 400 m field is expceptional. World leader
Rondell Bartholomew of Grenada
will have his European meeting debut. He competed before in Europe at World
Championships in Berlin 2009 and World Juniors 2008 in Bydgoszcz. Also in the field former world and
olympic winner Jeremy Wariner, another Daegu bound US
runner Greg Nixon, Jamaican record holder Jermaine Gonzales, European leader
Jonathan Borlee and Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius of South Africa. In total in 11 events
(out of 16) current world leaders are competing at Stade de France. Interesting
to see in women 100 m
Jamaicans Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart with Kelly-Ann Baptiste of
Trinidad against Europeans – fastest Bulgarian
Ivet Lalova, Ukrainian duo Olesya Povh and Marya Ryemyen and home stars Myriam
Soumare with Veronique Mang. US is represented by Shalonda Solomon.

WHOM TO WATCH IN AT WORLDS U17

LILLE (FRA): Whom to watch at the IAAF World Youth
Championships. Top stars are two throwers, holders of best ever results in
their category. New Zealand shot putter Jacko Gill (23.86 with 5 kg) and Hungarian hammer
thrower Bence Pasztor (83.92 with 5
kg and he will be U17 also in 2012). In sprints Jamaican
duo Odean Skeen and Odail Tood should rule, the last year Youth Olympic Games
winner Jazeel Murphy is injured. In the 200/400 m combination US Arman Hall is
the special name. Ethiopian Mohamed Aman with a sub 1:46 is the top name for 800 m. Also fast QatarÂ´s
Hamza Driouch set for 800/1500 m combination. Kenyan Gilbert Kirui is the name
to watch in the 2000 m
steeple (he clocked sub 8:30 int the 3k already). Russian Pavel Parshin is the
walking favorite and home star is in the high jump, Gael Rotardier. The duel of
the championships in girls section should happen at 400 m when Jamaican Chris-Ann
Gordon (51.62 this year) will run against last year World Junior Champion
Shanae Miller of Bahamas
(improved this year to 51.85). Jamaican favorites for sprints are Christiania
Williams at 100 m
and Shericka Jackson at 200 m.
Briton Jessica Judd is fast at 800
m (2:02.70) and US Trinity Wilson should be the hurdles
star. Special to see Ukrainian Maryna Bekh in long jump who will belong to U17
also next year and already jumped 647 cm.

GATLIN VS. CHAMBERS

MADRID (ESP): SaturdayÂ´s Meeting Madrid 2011 (IAAF
World Challenge) will be highlighted by top 100 m field. Former olympic
winner and now Daegu-bound Justin Gatlin will meet with British World indoor
champion Dwain Chambers. Also in the race other US sprinters Travis Padgett and Rae
Edwards along with Turkish record holder Ramil Guliyev. Loaded fields specially
in all running events. Home spectators will watch mainly women 1500 m with both home stars
Nuria Fernandez, the European champion and another Barcelona medalist Natalia Rodriguez. Russian
Znamensky winner Yekaterina Martynova, US Jenny Simpson, Moroccan Siham Hilali
and Ukrainian Natalya Tobias are other top names. The World indoor medalist
Sergio Sanchez runs the 3000
m with Kenyans Joseph Kiplimo and Yusuf Biwott, James
Kwalia the world medalist from Qatar
and experienced Rui Silva of Portugal.
MenÂ´s hammer belongs to IAAF HT Challenge. Competing World champ Primoz Kozmus,
Euro winner Libor Charfreitag, World leader Aleksey
Zagorniy, US
Champion Kibwe Johnson and other Barcelona
medalist Nicola Vizzoni. Meet record 78.49 should go (Dilshod Nazarov in 2010).
NCAA Champion at 100 m
hurdles Nia Ali is going to have European debut here and will run against home
number one Josephine Oniya, Canadian Angela Whyte and Czech champion Lucie
Skrobakova. Another Spanish star high jumper Ruth Beitia will face Bulgarian
Venelina Veneva, Lavern Spencer of St. Lucia and Ana Simic from Croatia.

MORE NAMES FOR GYULAI MEMORIAL

BUDAPEST (HUN): More stars for the inaugural Istvan
Gyulai Memorial in Budapest
on July 30 include Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius against the home 400 m talent and national
junior record holder Marcell Deak Nagy. In the 100 m hurdles three world
champions will compete, Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Perdita Felicien and Derval
OÂ´Rourke. In the discus former olympic winner Virgilijus Alekna will compete
with home stars Zoltan Kovago and Robert Fazekas.

OTHER NEWS

MUMBAI (IND):
Long jump world record holder Mike Powell answered for The Hindu about the
possibility that 9 meters
could be achieved. “Yes…of course. I wish I could get Usain Bolt to jump. He
would jump 9 something, if I was his coach! When I look at today’s jumpers I
don’t think they are technically as good as we were. I watched Lewis, Larry
Myricks and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. I learned from them. Today’s jumpers are
different. They go through a coach, but who’s going to explain to them what I
did.”

LILLE (FRA): 1375 young athletes, 757 boys and 618
girls, representing 173 countries, will be participating in the 7th World Youth
Championships, scheduled from 6 to 10 July 2011 at the Stadium Nord in Lille
MÃ©tropole. The largest delegation: Spain with 43 athletes (following
on from the host country). The smallest delegation: 63 countries are featuring
just a single athlete at the event. Among them, 42 are sending a boy and 21 are
sending a girl. The largest female contingent: the German delegation stands out
with 22 girls and 7 boys. On average, 54 countries are represented by at least
10 athletes. The French delegation, the host country, is made up of 51
athletes, 26 girls and 25 boys. Among them, 38 of the 51 athletes were born in
1994 (2nd year youths), the remaining 13 athletes were born in 1995 (1st year
youths). The first team to set their bags down in northern France was Kuwait, whose costs have been
covered by the Conseil GÃ©nÃ©ral du Pas-de-Calais County Council since 21 June,
within the scope of the Pas-de-Calais 2012 mission. A dozen countries from
Central and South America arrived at the CROUS (Regional Centre assisting with
Student Accommodation) in Lille
on 25 June for some preparatory training sessions. In addition, some other
delegations are in training in France
or Europe, with New Zealand
preparing in Reims for example. Organizers are
informing in a release. The Opening ceremony will be held on Tuesday at 1830
hours. At the heart of the city, 700 local participants and 1,200 athletes will
come together, at the Grand’Place.

DURBAN (RSA): The IOC Executive Board met in Durban ahead of the 123rd
IOC Session, at which the host city of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games will be
chosen. The EB confirmed the inclusion of ski slopestyle (men and women),
snowboard slopestyle (men and women) and snowboard parallel special slalom on
the sports programme of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. The EB also agreed on a shortlist of
sports that will be considered for inclusion in the sports programme of the
2020 Olympiad. The sports are: baseball, karate, roller sports, softball,
sports climbing, squash, wakeboard and wushu, one of which could be added to
the 2020 sports programme to be voted on by the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires in 2013. The
programme can include a maximum of 28 sports. The EB reviewed the situation of
the Ghana Olympic Committee, which has been suspended since January due to
government interference (as a result of the national sports legislation in
force) into the operations of the Olympic Movement in Ghana. It was
agreed that the EB would consider lifting the suspension of the NOC of Ghana as
soon as all formal steps for the adoption and official publication of the newly
amended sports legislation are fully completed by the Ghana authorities and the IOC is
formally notified of the development.

FRANKFURT (GER): Discus world champion Robert Harting admitted that when
Munich will get
the Winter Olympic Games 2018 he will be ready to try the bob-sleigh with the
aim to compete at the games. In summer he would be happy the same year compete
at European Championships 2018 on home soil. Berlin is bidding for that event.

LONDON (GBR): The London 2012 ticketing system has
been defended by IOC President Jacques Rogge who claimed that the demand to
watch the Games was “amazing”. The system of selling tickets has been condemned
in Britain
but is being hailed as a major success internationally writes Insidethegames.

LONDON (GBR): The World Anti-Doping Agency has signed
a deal with a major drug maker to alert them to potentially
performance-enhancing substances in medicines before they hit the market. WADA
said the deal with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will see GSK scientists review
medicines their British company is developing to identify any substances with a
high risk of abuse in sport reports Brisbane
sports.

NATIONAL TEAMS (Tamgho for Ostrava U23)

MELBOURNE (AUS): Victorians Kaila McKnight and Jeff Riseley have been
added to the now 32-strong Australian Flame team bound for the 2011 IAAF World
Championships in Daegu.

VIENNA (AUT): Austria
is sending 5 men and 4 women for the European U23 Championships in Ostrava next week. Top
names are middle distance runner Andreas Vojta (recently improved to 3:37.82 at
1500 m)
and decathlete Dominik Distelberger. Last year world junior finalist Jennifer
Wenth runs the 1500 m.

BRATISLAVA (SVK): Slovakia
will have in Ostrava
seven athletes. Four men and three women. Interesting name is female shot
putter Ivana Kristoficova who is world record holder in shot put of deaf
athletes (15.53 m).
For the World University Games in China Slovakia sends four athletes. Throwers
Daniel Vanek (shot put), Marcel Lomnicky (hammer), Martin Benak (javelin) and
female walker Maria Czakova.

DARMSTADT (GER): Germany
sends for the Universiade in China
19 athletes (Aug 12-23). Medal hopes are 400 m hurdles runner Georg Fleischahuer, pole
vaulter Kristina Gadschiew, long jumper Michelle Weitzel and discus thrower
Sabine Rumpf.

PARIS (FRA) : The French athletics federation has revealed its team for
the European U23 Championships next week in Ostrava. Biggest name on the roster is world
triple jump record holder Teddy Tamgho. Alson on the team are last year’s world
110m hurdles champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and triple jumper Yoann Rapinier.
42 male athletes and 31 females athletes will represent France.

BRUSSELS (BEL): Belgium is sending out 19 athletes
to the European U23 championships including main medal contenders Anne ZagrÃ© in
the 100m hurdles, Jeroen D’hoedt who will compete in the 3000m steeple chase
and decathlete Thomas Van der Plaetsen.

PRAHA (CZE): Czech
Republic as organising
country also finalised its roster for the U23 event. In the team 18 men and 17
women. The top names are Katerina Cachova for heptathlon, sprinter Pavel
Maslak, hurdler Martin Mazac, javelin thrower Jakub Vadlejch and hammer thrower
Katerina Safrankova. Two interesting family relations. Jana Slaninova selected
for 200 m
and 4×100 m is the daughter of late Jan Slanina (coach and meet organizer) and
Tatjana Kocembova (world medalist at 400 m in 1983) now Netolickova. Jan Kubista at 800 m is son of Jan Kubista
sr. who is still Czech 1500 m
national record holder with 3:34.87 in 1983. Men and women will compete in the
4×100 m relay.

RESULTS

ATLANTA (USA, Jul 4): Kenyan Sammy Kitwara
and Ethiopian Worknesh Kidane were winners of their respective races at the
42nd AJC Peachtree Road Race. The Kenyan and Ethiopian stars spoilt the
Independence Day celebrations of their American hosts hoping for home victories
when covering the 10
kilometer course in Atlanta with times of 28:05 and 31:23.
Kitwara outpaced fellow countryman Mathew Kisorio by two seconds with Ridouane
Harroufi of Morocco third in 28:27 while Ben True claimed his first ever USA 10 km crown when finishing
fifth in 28:28 just a second ahead of Ed Moran. Kidane as is her regular tactic
broke away early and won easily in 31:23 with Kenya’s Alice Timbilili 31:48,
splitting her from her Ethiopian teammate Belainesh Gebre who crossed the line in 31:59.

LILLESTROM (NOR, Jul 4): At LillestrÃ¸m Games national record holder
Ezinne Okparaebo sprinted to 23.85 (+1.0) in the 200 m. South African Hannes
Dreyer won both sprints in 10.45 (+0.7) and 21.17 (+0.5). Son of famous father
Jonas Mogenburg improved in the long jump to 754 (+1.2). South African Andre
Olivier won the 800 m
in 1:47.19 and best female runner Ingvill Makestad Bovim ran with men in
another race (2:01.27).

HAVANA (CUB, Jun 24): As usual late infos from Cuba.
At another open meet Michael Herrera scored fast double 10.31 (0.0) and 20.52
(+0.3) in the sprints. Josleidy Ribalta got 14.09 (0.0) in women triple jump.

PIHTIPUDAS (FIN, Jul 3): Two 80+ marks at the meet in Finland. Jarkko Koski-Vahala
achieved 81.53 and Antti Ruuskanen 80.15.

HOUSTON (USA, Jun 30): Bermudan CAC Champion
Tyrone Smith leaped here to quality 816 (+1.8) in the long jump. TrinidadÂ´s
Aaron Armstrong clocked 10.26
in the 100
m.

SAD NEWS

TRELAWNY (JAM): Olympian Pablo McNeil, the first of Usain Bolt’s five
High School coaches, passed away on Monday night. McNeil, born September 12,
1939, died at the Falmouth Hospital at 8:30 pm Jamaica time. He represented his
country at the 1964 1968 Summer Olympic Games. At the 1964 Games, McNeil
reached the semifinal of the 100
meters, finishing sixth, and later ran the first leg on Jamaica’s
4x100m team, which was fourth in the final, the time 39.4secs. Patrick
Robinson, Lyndie Headley and Dennis Johnson completed the quartet. He again
failed to reach the final of the 1968 Games, this time dropping out at the
second round. Informs Track Alerts.

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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